Newmai News Network Imphal | September 25 Various tribal student organizations in Manipur have stated today that the “the hill people are not a part of the 48 hours agitation” to be launched by the “valley based organizations” from midnight of September 26 in connection with the Manipur University issue. The tribal student bodies are referring to the bandh to be imposed by All Manipur Student Union (AMSU), Manipuri Student Federation (MSF), Kangleipak Student Association (KSA), SUK, DESAM and AIMS from the midnight of September 26. In a joint statement made available to Newmai News Network tonight, All Tribal Student Union, Manipur (ATSUM), Kuki Student Organisation-General Headquarter (KSO-GHQ) and All Naga Student Association, Manipur (ANSAM) said that, “as a part of non-conformity to the impending 48 hours agitation this stricture is issued for all the hill districts in Manipur that, all offices both government or non-government should carry on with their normal activities; all academic institutions should be opened and the inter-hill district connectivity should be opened without any disruption”. ATSUM, KSO-GHQ and ANSAM also said that the already scheduled examination routine of Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) should proceed as usual in the hill districts without any alteration of the routine. “We will not allow the examination to be postponed or shelved due to the agitation of vested interests, and that, any move by the authority to thwart the same shall be construed as an act of hostility”, cautioned the three tribal student organisations. ATSUM, KSO-GHQ and ANSAM then stated that, this stricture is being issued in “view of the past bitter experiences that, whenever an issue of significance occur in the valley, the hill people are forced to toe to their line whether we want it or not or whether we support the agitation or not”. They also stated that this stricture is also to show it to the world that the tribals in Manipur are not a part of this agitation. ATSUM, KSO-GHQ and ANSAM then said, “The egregious turn of events that is witnessed in Manipur University with the concomitance of absurdly protracted agitation and the fresh eruption of violence orchestrated by the valley based student organisations, after an interval of a brief lull, has clearly demonstrated that Manipur University is not an institution for academic pursuit but an institution for all fly-by-nights and agitators”. They also said that Manipur University has deviated from its sacrosanct duty of providing knowledge and grooming the future of the students, “rather it has degraded itself to the shameless position of destroying the careers of its pupils who come under its wings”. The tribal student organizations then stated, “Corroborating the fact that the heedless agitation called by Manipur University Student Union (MUSU), Manipur University Teacher Association (MUTA) and their proponents has put the career of more than thirty thousand graduate students hanging in the thread, and also that, students who aspired to go outside the state for their further academic pursuit were marooned”. They also said that this agitation has jeopardised the careers of thousands of the poor, impecunious tribal people who eke out their living by menial and manual labour. “The agitators are answerable for all the ills that had befallen the students’ community of the state and should also be held accountable in return”, they added. According to ATSUM, KSO-GHQ and ANSAM, the student bodies of the hills had invariably demanded for recourse to ‘rule of law’ and early completion of the agitation “so that normal academic atmosphere is restored keeping in mind the best interest of the students’ community only to be rebuffed”. They stated that, “this intransigence on the part of the proponent of the agitators had aggravated the situation and also in turn polarised the position of the hill people vis-à-vis the agitators”. ATSUM, KSO-GHQ and ANSAM then said that they had clearly evinced their position appealing for sanity to the agitators and the resumption of normal academic atmosphere “without vitiating the already aggravating situation but the recent trend of events and the intransigence on the part of the agitators had forced us to come out with this declaration that the hill people are not a part of the 48 hours agitation launched by the valley based organisations and neither will it be effective in the hill areas”. The three tribal student bodies then said that this agitation has crossed all limits of human decency and universal moral law.
